NEW YORK – Inside baseball, the Michael Pineda pine tar incident is dead. It was never really alive.

Outside, though, to those who can't see all the weird twists and turns of a game won and lost on inches, the joke was on baseball Friday, a day after the New York Yankees' starter shut down the Red Sox while pitching with a brown substance on his right hand.

Why all the unwritten rules? When the written rule clearly states that pitchers aren’t allowed to apply any substance to the ball, shouldn’t the players have to follow those rules?

Baseball is simply too intricate. The smallest elements of the game can make a large impact on the outcome. It would be nearly impossible to monitor every miniscule part of it. When the results revolve so heavily around gamesmanship, trying to micromanage every fiber would be wasted effort.

The validity of the rules in place can easily be questioned, especially in times like these, where the national spotlight of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry opens itself up for a bigger audience to wonder why Pineda was allowed to cheat. And further, why the Red Sox allowed it.

It really comes down to the definition of cheating. Was Pineda cheating? Technically, he broke the rules. Technically, it can be considered cheating.

But Major League Baseball took a second look and still decided there was no violation. Imagine if MLB set a precedent here, pinning Pineda with a suspension. Every single time a pitcher goes to his glove or his forearm or his sweaty hair or his discolored pants, will suspensions be given out?

And if pitchers are no longer allowed to do anything to get a better grip, look out hitters.

“I don’t sit here and go, ‘he’s cheating,’” Victorino said. “Do whatever you’ve got to do get a grip on that ball so it doesn’t hit me in the head. There are nights when you can’t feel a grip. Last night was a little overboard. But we couldn’t hit him. That’s my point, it’s going to be a bigger story because the camera caught it.”

There are too many details to enforce, and it’s why the league is smart to leave a certain portion of the rules to be self-policed. It's worked for a long time that way.

Just like any sport, there’s an undetermined amount of ways to get a minor advantage in baseball.

“I do it all the time from the outfield,” Victorino said. “When I throw it in I bounce it. Why? Because I want my pitcher to have a scuff on the ball … There’s all kinds of ways to do it. Throwing between innings – catcher throws it down, it short-hops, all right, that ball’s scuffed. There’s so many ways.”

Players and coaches are entrusted with the responsibility to play the game fairly. It isn’t unless a player goes overboard that others take exception.

Pineda flirted with that line on Thursday night.

“I think if a pitcher is going to use some additive to gain a grip, you’d like to think it would be a little bit more discreet,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said.

Farrell had no hard words for Pineda. He didn’t run out to the umpires to complain, and it’s why the umpires weren’t allowed to check Pineda’s hand. They have to first be signaled by the opposing team, and the Red Sox didn’t want to signal.

If they did, imagine the signals that would be coming from the opposing dugout at Fenway Park all season.

Pine tar isn’t the reason Pineda and the Yankees beat the Red Sox on Thursday. Both teams were quick to say that.

Farrell said the rules don't need to change. When there's too much policing from the outside, those on the inside can get rebellious.

“I never had a game where I’m like ‘OK, this guy is obviously cheating today,’” Victorino said. “I’ve never witnessed or had that said about someone on the mound.”

Here's the simple takeaway: Going forward, more discretion would be appreciated.

“What happened last night was because it got so blatant,” Victorino said. “It was too obvious."